it's the baby's choice
by bagua
Summary: Ryoma and Hikaru, taking care of a baby together. is it a Go prodigy or a tennis prodigy? a baby doll can only do so many things. I DO NOT OWN PRINCE OF TENNIS OR HIKAUR NO GO.
1. Ryoma's new husband

Ryoma stared blankly at the ghost. After several minutes of having a one sided conversation with Ryoma, Hikaru realized that Ryoma was staring at Sai instead of him.

Ryoma had dreaded being paired up with Hikaru for the class assignment.

Xxx

Before:

Hikaru's mother made him switch schools for the education this provided. Hikaru knew that was a big lie. He knew his mother just wanted him to go to Segaku for the sports. His mother would rather have Hikaru playing sports than Go.

Like Hikaru would ever go for that. This was a chance to start a Go club at another school. But his efforts aren't going so well. He realized his mothers plan because most of the kids at Segaku were more sporty than the kids at his other school.

His mother told him he had to find a sport activity to after school. So until he finds new recruits for his go club, he decided to stick with ping-pong.

He was not the only new member. There was a kid who had been going to Segaku since the beginning of the school year. But he did not go into the ping-pong club until now. He called himself a ping-pong prodigy. He entered in the middle of school year because he was inspired by some Echiblen guy. The ping-pong prodigy went on explaining how Echi-whatever showed the finer points of ping-pong/ and the more Mr. Ping-pong prodigy talked, the Hikaru scooted away from him to play a nice game with one of 7th graders already on the team.

Sai was complaining about not being able to play go. He went on with something about taking away precious time playing the silly game of ping-pong when he could be perfecting the fine art of Go. But after about 5 minutes of that, he became horribly excited with the game and kept asking clarifying questions to Hikaru.

Hikaru lasted a good 12 minutes of Sai running around the Ping-pong table following the ball this way and that and asking Hikaru about techniques and official rules of the game before Hikaru couldn't take it anymore.

Hikaru yelled "I don't know! This is my first day! And stop running around like you're the only one at the table!"

Sai was currently behind Hikaru's opponent. She was also in the 7th grade, and due to her small complexion, had to move more than Hikaru to reach the ball. She left crying (the boys and girls practice together but the boys and girls have separate competitions).

"Hikaru. That was not very nice. You made that poor girl cry." Sai said in a voice that agitated Hikaru to the point to where his face got red.

Hikaru spent the rest of practice apologizing to his opponent saying he was thinking out loud and how those thoughts were meant for him.

Xxx

That night, Hikaru did not allow Sai to play any Go

Xxx

Ryoma was sitting in class by the window. He wanted to go to lunch, he was gunna meet with Momo, Kikumaru, and Kawamura, and he had his favorite flavor Ponta in his bag. He just had to last 30 more minutes.

That was just enough time for the teacher to assign partners for the school project. It was the project where a boy and a girl get paired together and take care of a baby. The baby would cry and do all that tech stuff. Ryoma didn't think Segaku had such advanced Baby simulators. He thought most of the money went to sports. He wondered how rich Segaku actually was…

Without his eyes leaving the spot from where he saw starring, he slightly turned towards the teacher's direction and listened for his name. He heard a lot of names that were not his name. But when most of the class had been read off, the teacher said Ryoma's name.

"Echizen will be partnered with Shindo" with that Ryoma raised his hand. Once the teacher saw his hand, he looked in Ryom'as direction.

Ryoma stood up and said "I don't know who that is." Ryoma never let his eyes off of the teacher once he stood up.

"Echizen, don't you remember? He is the new student. He came yesterday. I remember you were in class."

….

"Shindo is a guy."

"Yes. We have an odd number of guys and girls in the class. There are 2 boy pairs and one group with one girl and 2 boys. You got the lucky draw of being one of the boy Pairs."

Ryoma searched the class with his eyes for an unfamiliar face. He ended up finding 2. The one he was looking for was sitting at his desk and waving a Ryoma.

Once Ryoma found Shindo, he sat down relatively fast. The teacher finished up saying the pairs with only 5 minutes of class left. The Ohjisama was freaking out inside his head but soon found him.

"You will all get your baby's tomorrow. Have a good lunch" and right after he said that, the bell rang.

As Ryoma was packing up his stuff from his desk, Shindo came over with an over confident smile. Ryoma glances up at the black haired (with blond bangs) boy and then went on with his cleaning. Shindo said nothing until Ryoma was done packing up. Once Ryoma got up and started for the door, Shindo followed Ryoma and started talking for him.

"So I guess we will be parents with each other. Hi. My name is Hikaru. Are you in any after school activities? Cause my mom made me go out for one so I ping-pong and I can't take care of the baby after school."

"…I have tennis."

"Oh… well this is lame then."

After a couple seconds of silence, Ryoma was pounced onto from the back and herd "o-chibi!" Ryoma almost fell but he caught himself with the sempai on his back

"… Sempai"

"Who is this person? Does he like tennis? I am so happy for you Ryoma. I didn't think you would find a friend without our help!" Momo said coming down the hall and squeezed in between Ryoma and Hikaru.

The red head Sempai got off of Echizen and Momo put his arm around home.

Kawamura came up quietly came from behind and walked next to Hikaru.

The line was in the order of Kikumaru, Echizen, Momo, Hikaru, and Kawamura at the end (and Sai behind Hikaru).

They all walked up the stairs with the Sepmai's having a conversation with each other. They got to the roof and they all sat down in a lop-sided circle near one of the corners of the roof. Ryoma grabbed the Ponta from his bag and sat it in front of him.

Hikaru watched Sai as he went around looking at the other people.

"Hikaru, are these new friends of yours, you made them really fast. Back in my day, it took time to build a good friend relationship."

To everyone else, Hikaru appeared to be starring a Kawamura.

"O-chibi, why did you just finch?" Kikumaru said as the rest of the group turned to Echizen's direction.

The capped boy took his Ponta from in front of him and popped it open. "Nothing" and then took a sip. After everyone got a good look of Echizen drinking his Ponta, all the Sempai's glares turned to Hikaru.

"So…" Momo began "how'd you meat Ryoma?"

"Well I just started my first day here yester day. And today the teacher assigned us partners for the baby project. "

Momo started to pout after that statement and looked off into the distance. Kawamura patted Momo's back. Kikimaru did too but at the same time was laughing at Momo.

Ryoma started to drink faster.

Hikaru had a confused face on. "What's wrong? Did I say something to offend you? There was an odd number of guys… it wasn't our decision."

"No. Nothing like that. Momo just got jealous." Ryoma started to drink his Ponta faster. "So is that what you were talking about with O-chibi?"

"Yes well you see, at least one of use has to be with the baby at all times. I'm in the ping-pong club and we're not supposed to bring in are personal belongings. Ya. The ping-pong prodigy goes on about how personal belongings get in the way of getting our senses into the paddle. Anyway, so I was seeing what Echizen does after school/"

"Oh Ryoma does tennis after school. You should join. It's just like ping-pong except you are on the table. Come on. Coach would so let you hold on to the Baby while you are picking up balls. And we have no prodigies… we have no prodigies that are full of themselves." Momo stopped to take a bite out of his sandwich and continued with food in his mouth "so you should defiantly join the tennis club. You take care of the baby during practice while Ryoma plays and you pick up the balls with the baby and Ryoma can take it home after practice and feed it and care for it and love it and milk it…" Momo started to trail off into a pout position.

Ryoma started to choke on his Ponta. Every one watch as Ryoma caught his breath. Kikimaru was patting him on the back. After he was done coughing, he put his can over his lips and let the last bit of Ponta fall into his mouth.

"Oh. Oh. Hikaru. Join this tennis club. You will discover what the ball you play with in your ping-pong games feels like." Sai said in his oh so optimistic way.

Hikaru was Hesitant at first. Physical education. Oh joy. "Ok. I'll tell the ping-pong club that I would like to try out a different club at the moment. And I will come check out the tennis club tomorrow with the baby.

The bell rang for class and the 5 boys left their corner to finish up class. For the rest of class, all Hikaru could think about was playing a game of Go with Sai. All Ryoma could think about was playing a game of tennis with Karupin.

Xxx

The next day in class, each student sat next to their partner and was given a baby at random. Ryoma and Hikaru were given a girl.

Now:

"Wow. This is gunna be so exciting. "Hikaru started. "What should we name her? There are just so many options. I was gunna go for an American name but that would be lame. Have you ever been to America? I haven't. Hey have you ever played Go? It is an amazing game. You should really get into it… "

Hikaru finally realized that Echizen had been starring to the side of Hikaru where Sai was. Sai was looking around the class room. Hikaru was just about to say something when the teacher came over.

"Ah. One of the boy groups. Have you 2 decided on which one of you is the mother?"

Ryoma looked to the ground. Hikaru said "Echizen. That is who we have decided to be the mother." Ryoma looked at Hikaru with no emotion.

"Oh. Ok." And the teacher opened up the baby girls back and started to type something into her. Ryoma really wondered how advanced a baby doll could get.

"Ok Echizen. Please come over here." Ryoma got up and walked over. "Ok now I want you to look into this camera with your normal face and weight for a flash." Ryoma stood with a blank face and weighted. Soon enough there was a flash. "Ok. Next into this Microphone, I want you to say mama when I say go, Echizen Ryoma when I say go again, and something you normally say on the third go." Ryoma weighted.

"Go."

"Mama."

"…Go"

"Echizen Ryoma"

"…Go"

"… Mada mada dane"

"Good job Echizen. Could you please go get Shindo?"

"Yes" Hikaru walked over to his now fake husband and told him to go over to the teacher. Hikaru went over and after Ryoma was alone, he put his head in his arms and did a tiny freak out in his head. 'How can a baby doll be so advanced? Will it even be able to move on its own! How rich is this school!'

After a couple of minutes of Ryoma rubbing his hair with these pounding questions in mind, Hikaru came back with the doll. He sat down at the same table as Echizen. The teacher went onto the next group.

"Hi Echizen!"

Ryoma looked up a starred at Hikaru. He glanced at Sai has he moved.

"You see him! That's great!" Hikaru said this so that the whole class could here. They slowly went into their own conversations again.

Ryoma's eyes glanced back and forth at Sai, Hikaru, and the baby. Sai just starred at Ryoma in awe. Hikaru had a goofy grin on his face. The doll was just starring at Ryoma with an innocent baby face, never changing.

Ryoma knew this was gunna be a long tennis practice.


	2. How the regulars treat a baby

The school day would end, the babies would cry.

The babies were all silent. And once the final bell rang, there was a wave of crying dolls that echoed through the room.

Hikaru held out the baby to Ryoma. "Here Mama. You need to take it until I can talk to the tennis coach and get everything squared away. Hey. I need to know what you wanna name her."

"… I know a couple of people who will wanna name her."

"…? ... Who?"

Xxx

As the school day ended, Ryoma let out a long sigh. He reluctantly walked to the tennis courts petting the crying baby in his hands. He was treating the girl doll like he would Karupin. He thought you treat real babies like a pet. It was logical.

Once he got there, he found Kidoh and Momo doing their daily routine of challenging each other in various ways. Kikumaru and Oishi were playing a doubles game with Fuji and Kawamura.

Ryoma herd a second baby crying in the distance. He sighed once again. He went over to the sound that would soon sound all too familiar to him. He found Kachiro Kato and Katsuo Mizuno trying the quiet the baby.

"We were the second boy pair. We heard you were the other boy pair." Said Katsuo Mizuno, always reminding Ryoma of Oishi… just a little bit.

"Ya. We got a boy. We decided to name him Minoru. Katsuo is the father. I'm the mother." Kachiro Kato said that time. He started out saying it with a smile but near the end, he said it with a frown. Katsuo had a depressing smile on as he starred at Katsuo. He felt so bad for Kachiro because Kachiro didn't know he was truly the better chose for the mother roll.

Echizen said nothing.

"Ya." Began Katsuo. "We didn't know who we wanted the mother to be so the teacher decided Kachiro would be the mother. Which one are you?"

"Mother."

There was a long silence. The silence drove on until Kachiro stopped it. "Oh. I would have seen you more as the….. We'll see you at practice." And with that they left.

Ryoma went over to the doubles match being played by the regulars. Instead of comforting the baby, he put his hand over the speaker of the baby (in the mouth). That made it so the loud crying sounded like an equally loud muffled crying.

The Four boys playing the game except Fuji looked over at the crying doll in Ryoma's hands. After Fuji saw the others had become distracted, he too looked over at the baby. There were currently 4 crying baby dolls at the boy's tennis practice including Ryoma's and Hikaru's.

Kikumaru got an excited look on his face and started to jump up and down once he saw the baby. Momo jumped onto Ryoma's back. "Ryoma! Pink blanket. I see You got a girl. Are you the mother or the father?"

"Mother."

By this time the four regulars that should have been having a match had come over to see Ryoma's new baby.

There was a long silence. Fuji smiled, Oishi did nothing, Kawamura blushed, and Momo and Kikimaru got red in the face with laughter.

Ryoma just stood there starring at Momo Sempai who was now next to Kikimaru holding onto each other for support. A ghost walked out of Ryoma and turned around to face Ryoma.

"Hi mother!" said Sai.

Ryoma fell backwards at the shock of having a ghost walk through him. Kikumaru and Momo stopped laughing at look at Ryoma.

Momo blushed. That was his first time seeing such a scared face on Ryoma. It caught Momo by surprise.

"Cuuuute" whispered Momo.

"Are you ok Ryoma?" Fuji and to his surprise Hikaru said at the same time.

The two starred at each other. Fuji smiled at Hikaru. His smile somehow made Hikaru want to smile back. He did so.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Shindo Hikaru. Please call me Hikaru. This is my first day in Segaku tennis club." And Hikaru bowed at Fuji with that.

"It's a pleasure to have you here. I hope I can help you develop your tennis skills in some way." And Fuji Bowed at Hikaru with that.

Hikaru Blushed and said "well I don't really… play tennis. I barely know the rules." Hikaru was very embarrassed by this.

Fuji's face turned to look at Tezuka who was talking with the coach, smiled, turned around, and said to Hikaru "please allow me to teach you all you need to know."

"Thank you very much Sempai! I would love that but you don't have to do that. Really."

"Oh. It will be my honor."

"Um… thanks. I will try my best to learn all that I can from you!"

"Hikaru! Why don't you ever treat me with that type of respect?" Sai tried to but in.

"O-chibi! That's not how you treat a baby! Here let me take it." "Kikimaru then grabbed the Crying baby that was tossed on the ground when Ryoma fell over. Held it the correct way a baby should be held, and started patting its back.

Oishi blushed at the mother figure but caught himself right before Kikimaru looked over with an excited look on his face.

"Oishi! You hold the baby!" Kikimaru pushed the baby into Oishi's chest. Oishi grabbed it even though he didn't really want to.

"Um… I'm not the best with… babies." The baby's crying slowly got Quieter. There was a moment of silence, and then everyone herd a baby's snore.

"Aww! Oishi! What a great father figure." Kikimaru responded.

"Um. Ryoma. Take the baby back."

"But you got it to sleep Oishi Sempai."

"But… I'm really not the best with babies."

"Oh hey Ryoma, what's the girls name anyway?" Momo interrupted.

"I don't know." Ryoma said truthfully.

"Well I think it should be something pretty." Said Kikimaru.

"Um. I don't think so. I think it should assert authority." Momo replied.

As the two Sempai had a mini fight, Sai tried to start a conversation with Ryoma. "Well Mother. The fact that you can see me is really something. Maybe I should stick with you. Hikaru can get pretty annoying and is not very good a Go at the moment, but with a little practice, I bet you could be even better than Hikaru!"

During that whole conversation, Ryoma stared at the sleeping baby in Oishi's arms (Oishi was looking very nervous and was looking for some place to set the baby down). Ryoma was getting white in the face. A Go playing ghost following Ryoma around. Excitement.

Hikaru was talking with Fuji when he notice Sai was pressing Ryoma. He could tell Ryoma was getting uneasy. As much as Hikaru was enjoying that, he decided to put a stop to it.

"Um… Fuji Sempai. Would you mind if I go talk with someone for a moment?"

Fuji looked towards Tezuka. He was looking at Fuji and Shindo with a blank expression. When Tezuka saw Fuji look over, Tezuka looked away to face a boy picking up tennis balls and at the same time holding a crying baby. "Sure that's fine. I also have to talk to someone anyway." Fuji gave Shindo a smile that left Shindo uneasy and then left.

Hikaru caught himself and straightened himself out. He went over to Sai and the pale Ryoma and pulled Sai away. Everyone but Ryoma saw Hikaru dragging air into a secluded place.

"Sai… Echizen's face was amazing! That was great." Hikaru started laughing.

"Shindo? You are in the tennis club?" a voice in the background said. At the same time, Oishi was walking to Hikaru to hand him his baby. Before he was noticed by Hikaru and the suspicious character, Oishi hid behind the corner of the school building.

"Akira Toya. What are you doing at Segaku?" Hikaru's voice was not mad but more intrigued.

"You know what I want." Akira said.

"I said on my own time."

"I can't wait forever."

"Well it looks like your gunna have to."

Oishi was freaking out. He wondered what Shindo did. How much money did he owe? Oishi came out from his hiding spot, went between the two boys and pleaded "please, let's think this out rationally. The tennis club can find a solution to this if we work together."

"… Can your buddy's really play?" Akira asked.

Hikaru thought to himself for a bit.

"….. Echizen will be able to beat you in a fair game. Just give him two weeks." Hikaru replied a little too confident.

"…Ok. In two weeks, after your tennis practice is done, I will be waiting for this Echizen guy at the Go salon. But/"

"No buts. Those are the conditions. See you in two weeks. Get ready to get your but whipped by an amateur like the first time we played." Hikaru smirked as Akira walked away.

"Um… Shindo… what did you just do?"

"Thanks for the help Sempai." And with that, Hikaru walked away to Fuji Sempai and the man Fuji was talking to.

Oishi ran to Ryoma. "Echizen!" Oishi started in a whisper "Shindo is in big trouble. You got to help him out. You have to go through whatever training he has you go through."

Ryoma did not know how to handle an Oishi who was freaking out "Ok… I promise to help Shindo out. Now stay calm Oishi Sempai."

Oishi thanked him many times even though that should have been Shindo's job. The coach ordered Echizen and Oishi to have a one set match against each other. Without thinking, Oishi put the sleeping doll down on a bench near the tennis court with his jacket. Ryoma didn't bother to care either.

As the match started, Inui came over to see how the game was going. He noticed a baby doll by Oishi's jacket. He wrote down data in his green note book and looked at the baby again. He noticed the baby was starting to cry. He went over to the doll.

He started playing peek-a-boo with the baby and saw that the doll responded to the game with laughter. He was astonished with how advanced this baby was. He had to show someone. He decided to tell Kidoh.

It took a while to find Kidoh. When he did, he discovered Kidoh was behind a bush playing peek-a-boo with a cat. Kidoh looked up to see his Sempai holding a baby doll.

"Sempai? ... What are you doing with my little sister?" Kidoh frowned when he saw that the cat he was playing with had left.

"…This is a doll." Inui replied.

Kidoh got up from the ground and said "oh. Well that doll looks a lot like my baby sister." And Kidoh ran off to do some jogging.

Inui attempted to write down data in his green notebook while holding the baby at the same time.

Inui went to the tennis courts to find the other tennis club members running laps.

When Ryoma and Hikaru noticed Inui had their baby, they ran as fastest as they could. They passed every jogging tennis player to get to him.

When they got there, Ryoma pulled the baby from Inui's hands and held her in his own arms. Hikaru hugged the doll on the other side of her small body. "What were you doing with our baby!" the two parents said at once.

"I was gathering data."

Ryoma's eyes got wider and Hikaru asked "what does that mean?"

"… Shindo. I don't want you to ever let this man touch this doll. Got that?" Ryoma said.

"Roger that."

The three chatting tennis club members finished doing their laps. Ryoma had to hold the baby during the laps. Holding a baby while doing physical education Hikaru learned was very difficult.

Kikimaru and Momo went over to the parents and told them they had found a good name for their baby.

"Oh cool." Hikaru said. He really wanted to know what he was to be calling his baby. Sai (who was floating during the laps) was jumping with excitement to know what the name would be.

"Yep. We came to a compromise." Said Momo.

"what's the name?" Ryoma secretly wanted to call it Karupin 2 but he knew Hikaru would not go for that.

In unison, Kikimaru and Momo said "the name is Kimi!"


	3. the school's new player

"And you shouldn't attack so late in the game. It's good to defend for a bit but you can't gain territory unless an attack is made." Akira stared blankly at the Go board as he said this.

He forced his face to produce a smile as he looked at his opponent. His opponent was large in stature. He was about 36 to 44 years old as far as Akira could tell. "I guess I was a little… intimidated by you." The opponent stood up, bowed, and said "thank you for the game."

Akira, in two fluid motions stood up, bowed, and said "thank you for the game."

Akira walked out of the building as soon as possible. He went straight home. He asked his father for a game. He did not care what the terms were. Akira just needed an interesting game. He had never before felt so childish playing a Go game. He felt childish because that last Go game he felt was soooo boring. Akira didn't think he would have such an immature thought of a Go game.

To Akira's disappointment, Akira's father told him no. his father told him to get ready for school tomorrow. The Go club at this new school was even better than the one at Akira's current school. This new school Akira learned with a little research was connected with Hikaru's new school, Segaku. How they were connected was through tennis. Akira just hoped that Yamabuki's Go club would be interesting for him.

Xxx

"Hello. My name is Toya Akira. I am glad to be joining this class" he said with a bow at the front of the class. He had little emotion in his words.

The teacher named Ketchum Sensei told Akira to sit in the empty seat next to Ranmaru. Ranmaru waved at Akira and Akira walked to his seat and sat down. He looked at Ranmaru who was into the class discussion that they had started the previous day. He had dark blue hair and dark brown eyes. Akira looked at the other side of him to see a boy small in stature. The boy wore a green sweat ban that was too big his head.

When the boy noticed that Akira was looking at him, he started whispering to him. "Hi! I'm Taichi Dan. Call me Taichi. And you are Toya. Nice to meet you. Are you going to be in an after school activity? I'm in Tennis. It's a really fun sport! I think you should try it. At least try for a little bit. Akutsu is in it! He is amazing. I have a dream of one day being just like him."

"That sounds all great but I was going to try out for the Go club."

"Oh really? Well you should play Akutsu! In truth he finds tennis boring. His real interest is in Go. But he would never tell anyone that. Maybe I can schedule a game for you. Just be at the courts after tennis practice tomorrow and prepare to get beaten."

"…..Ok."

"Sweet! Akutsu will be so excited!"

"…Ok."

After that deep conversation, they went back to learning.

Xxx

Akira went to Hikaru's school after class. He was shocked to see Hikaru was in the tennis club. Despite this, Akira had no intentions of joining his own schools team.

He then had a conversation with Hikaru. All in all, Akira had to play a game with some kid. He had no idea if the kid was even any good. On top of that, he had to play another kid tomorrow from Yamabuki and he again had no idea if he was any good. All he knew that he was dying for an interesting match.

Akira would start Yamabuki's Go club the day after tomorrow. He could only guess the level at which these children stood on the skill of Go. What was even better was that tomorrow, the first years were getting advanced baby dolls. A room full of crying babies and people trying to play Go sounded delightful.

Akira didn't put much thought into who he would get partnered with. It was just some random girl he was positive didn't know how to play Go. If there was a person in that class room that could play Go, Akira would have sniffed them out.

Akira went home, did not get a chance to play his father in a game of Go, ate dinner, and went to his room. He watched a game of Go on his TV. He was excited for this professional game. It was interesting.

Akira guessed the man that was ahead would win and he was right. Of course any person would have guessed the person winning at the time would win hut he had a little logic in his mind. The man that was behind could have won but would miss future chances to make a comeback. He would step deeper into his opponents territory until he stepped into a swamp, and could not come back. The loosing man had already missed opportunities for come backs in the game.

When the match was done, Akira went to bed. He had the same dream again. He watched the first game he played with Hikaru. Every time he had the dream, he saw a dark figure behind Hikaru. It was tall and most likely a adult but Akira knew there was truly no one else there except Hikaru and himself on that day. The dark figure would point to where Hikaru was placing his stones.

Akira knew this was what he wanted to believe. He wanted to believe there was someone there that day telling Hikaru how to play. Akira had seen Hikaru's ability in Hikaru's other games recently so he really wanted this to be true. Akira knew there was only Hikaru there on that day.

Xxx

Akira got out of bed and reluctantly went to school. He didn't care for a baby and in order to get full credit, he would have to at least spend some time with the baby. He decided to think of it as a challenge. The challenge was to focus on a Go game while completely ignoring a screaming baby. It was a challenge Akira was not excited to take.

As Akira walked into the class, he was greeted by the waving Ranmaru and the waving Taichi. Before Akira could walk over to his seat, Ketchum Sensei asked Akira if he could talk to him in private for a moment. Akira walked over to Kechum Sensei's desk.

"Yesterday I put the names of the students into the computer and the computer chose the pairs for the baby assignment. It turned out that you are one of the boys in the boy pair. Normally I wouldn't care about your feelings and just make you stay in the boy pair but it is your second day so if you feel uncomfortable with it, I can change you for a boy-girl pair."

"No. it is quite alright Sensei. I am fine with it. Don't worry ok? You don't have to treat me special just because I am new."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Then get out of my sight."

"Yes Ketchum Sensei." And with that, Akira went to his seat.

Akira sat down at his desk. Ranmaru and Taichi were facing and smiling at Akira who was in the middle of them. There was a small stretch of silence until Akira said (facing the front of the room so each boy saw one side of his face) to both of the boys "…Hi."

They both gasped excitedly and said in unison "Hi."

"… How are you guys?"

"Are you excided for the Go game after practice?" Taichi asked.

Before Akira could answer, Ranmaru cut in and said "Go? Anyway, which girl do you want for your mother?"

Akira raised an eyebrow and said "I don't know any of the girls in the class."

"Akazu was reluctant at first but he promised me he would play with you. Oh I am so excited. When I become as big and strong as Akazu, I can take his spot on the tennis team. Buts it's a real shame he doesn't like tennis. But alas, I will never get as big and strong as Akazu" Taichi started to frown after that.

Akira never knew anyone who used alas in normal conversation. He pondered the meaning of that word for a bit.

Ketchum Sensei motioned the class quiet and went on to explain the project. He went over why there were doing the project, what it will teach them, how they will get an A on the project, and how the baby works (the mechanics of the baby). Akira had never come across a baby so advanced. He wondered how much one baby would cost the school. The baby would actually go home to the parents houses tomorrow. The class cheered with excitement from this news.

Ranmaru listened intently to his Sensei as did Taichi. Akira was paying attention to the teacher but not even close to how much Taichi and Ranmaru were. When the teacher announced there would be one boy pair the whole class except Akira was wondering who the boys would be.

The teacher started to name the pairings and Akira got a little less tence. He waited for the teacher to say his name.

Akira was almost completely zoned out thinking about that Go game that was on last night. The more he thought about it, the more inexperienced the person who lost seemed to be. He began to think about the mistakes the winner made too.

"Toya… Toya!… !" Ketchum Sensei said irritated.

"Yes?" Akira said when he realized he was being talked to.

"Don't think just because your new, you can get off being treated differently."

"Wouldn't think of it."

"As I was saying Toya Akira, you will be paired with Taichi Dan" and then he went on to name more pairs.

Oh joy. Akira didn't really care who he got for a partner but it had to be the boy who was a nut for this Akazu guy. Akira tried his best not to care. He was fine with his baby growing up playing tennis. He just wanted to play Hikaru again.

"Akira, do you think we will get a boy or a girl? I hope we get a boy. I can't wait to see our baby. I can't wait to show Akazu our baby. Our baby will know everything about tennis. But wait, you probably want our baby to play Go. Well this is interesting. I didn't think I would be in the boy pair. I also didn't think that the teacher make the new kid be in the boy pair."

"… Me too." Akira said as he thought about how talkative Taichi was but Akira knew that could be a good thing. Akira was surprised when Taichi mentioned the baby playing Go. Akira was genuinely impressed by the fact that Taichi remembered Akira played Go… he gave up on the theory and just thought that Taichi just remembered because Akira was planning to play a match with Akazu.

Ketchum Sensei walked over to the two soon to be parents and said "You two got a boy. Which one is the mother?"

The two boys looked at each other. Akira and Taichi never thought about this.

"Oh. I see. Well since Toya is new, we should be nice to him right Taichi?"

"You bet."

"So Taichi, you will be the father and Toya will naturally be the mother. Father, can you please come over here." Sensei motioned Taichi to a pacific area of the class room.

Taichi walked over leaving Akira sitting at the table alone.

Akira thought about how much money Yamabuki had. Akira latter started thinking about this first game with Hikaru when Taich came over "it's your turn mother" and with that, Akira went over to Ketchum Sensei and his new son.

Xxx

Akira stayed after school and with nothing to do until tennis practice is over; he decided to watch the Yamabuki tennis club practice.

He became so interested with the tennis game; he even scared himself once he realized he was that he was excited about spots. He went back to having his usual blank expression on his face. He saw Taichi clinging to a guy with gray hair. He guessed that was Akazu. Akira knew he should have been scared by the man's face but he was not fazed by it. He had seen much scarier faces at Go salons.

Akira was watching a game being played by a red head that kept saying lucky when he got a good shot. Akira was so amazed by this gut that he couldn't even glance at the opposing player. The only times his eyes were on the opponents side of the court was when the ball was on that side. The only things Akira saw at this moment was the ball, the rackets, and the red head.

When the match was over, the red head came over to Akira who started to freak out. "Why are you not picking up balls?"

Akira freaked out not really understanding the question and said "I-I'm not in the tennis club! I-I'm just watching!"

"Lucky. I of course can see why you would decide to watch a game played by me. I hope the game was amazing. "As he walked away as he slowly said lucky.

Only after the red head left did Akira blush.

Taichi came over. "Hey Akira. You stayed! That is great!"

"Ya well you know."

"So why were you talking to Sengoku Sempei?"

So his name is Sengoku. Akira feared and knew he would never forget that name.

"No reason really… where am I playing Go?"

"Oh. Over here!" Taichi pulled Akira by his wrist into a class room for English. Akira saw a Go board on a table and two seats on opposite sides of the table. The stones were on the Go board with the lids on top. Taichi told Akira to wait in this class room for the remaining ten minutes of practice.

Akira sat snapping a black Go stone on the board. He thought about how much energy Taichi had throughout the day. Akira thought about how you could ration out your energy. Akira wondered if he himself could do that. He then remembered he already did that but on a much smaller level.

Akira started snapping a black stone with his left hand. He found that it was very difficult. He wondered if it would be difficult to play Go with his non-dominate hand, once he got used to holding the stone, would it be a different game play all?

Suddenly in the mist of Akira's deep thinking, the door opened to Taichi walking in. Behind him was a much taller and bigger in stature man with gray hair. No matter how much Akira looked at the gray haired man, his complexion did not faze Akira at all. Akira felt like it should have though.

When Akazu saw Akira, he instinctively growled at Akira under his breath.

Taichi motioned Akazu towards the seat directly in front of Akira. Akazu took a seat and if Akira's instincts were correct, Akazu was uncomfortable. He probably didn't want anyone to see him there. Akira almost felt bad for the (should have been) scary faced man. Akira decided that he would make it a close game (with Akira winning of course). Akazu was obviously embarrassed playing Go.

Taichi pulled out a Manga. As much as he admired Akazu, he could not last a whole game of Go. He didn't know how to play anyway.

Akira pulled out 2 black stones and Akazu pulled out six white stones. Akira and Akazu switched stones.

Akazu snapped the white stone on a star corner. The game has started.


	4. the Go salon

"Ok Echizen. We make a quick stop at you house to drop off your stuff and then it's off to the Go salon. Oishi, you come with use to insure Kimi stays happy. Kikimaru, you come to make sure Oishi doesn't leave to escape Kimi. Remember, it's your night with the baby Echizen." Hikaru said making sure everything was set up.

"Wow. You've really have gotten to know the regulars." Momo reported.

"Well Echizen over here always hangs out with you guys all the time. Oh ya. The Go salon we are going to has a video arcade so you, Kikimaru and Oishi don't have to watch Echizen learn go."

The four boys (plus one baby and one ghost) all walked over to Ryoma's house. Ryoma opened the front door, to see his dad walking through the house. Ryoma set his belonging above the shoes of the people and yelled "I'm going out for a while."

Ryoma's dad looked over to see his son close the front door. He couldn't miss this opportunity to see what his son was doing in his personal life. He quickly went to grab his signature cosplay. A hat and fake mustache should do it.

Hikaru played with Kimi as they walked down the road.

"I get the feeling a person is following use… possibly." Oishi said.

"…no." Ryoma said.

"That's right. You're a good baby. Say Go! Say Go!" Hikaru said to Kimi.

"Oishi, why do you not like Kimi?" Kikimaru asked.

"Oishi doesn't like the fact that I'm the mother." Ryoma answered.

"How mean Oishi!" Kikimaru yelled.

"No! It's nothing like that… it's just… I'm not so good with/" Oishi was stopped with the sound of crying.

"I think Kimi wants mother" said Sai placing his hand on Ryoma's shoulder. Ryoma shuddered at this.

Ryoma took the baby Hikaru was holding. Ryoma patted its back. The baby slowly got quieter until they all herd the baby sleeping.

"So cute Echizen!" Kikimaru stated.

No one said anything else for they didn't want to wake the baby. That was every one, except Sai. Sai was telling Ryoma the basic rules of Go like where to place the stones on the board and the goal of the game. When Sai asked him if he was listening, Ryoma would nod yes.

"Just out of curiosity, since the baby's parents can both see me, do you think Kimi could see me?"

Without thinking about it, Ryoma answered with "it's not really our baby. It's a doll so it probably can't see you."

Hikaru gave Ryoma a shocked look. He could not believe Ryoma and answered Sai out loud.

The two Sempei's looked at Ryoma with confused faces.

"Oh…" Sai started "then why do you have the rolls of mother and father?"

"Because" Ryoma started "we are looking at this assignment _like_ we _are _the real parents."

"Then Kimi should see me."

"Your logic is all off it's not a real baby."

"Then how can it cry and do all of these things a real baby can do?"

"… Mada mada dane." Ryoma then realized he just had a conversation out loud with a ghost that no one but he and Hikaru (and possibly Kimi) could see. He said nothing else for the rest of the walk trying to cover his face with his white hat. Sai kept asking why Ryoma wouldn't answer him.

"Mother… answer me… oh wait. The two boys walking behind us. I get it."

Right before they got to the Go salon, Kikimaru mentioned "It's ok Echizen. The best of us talk to our selves. "

"Look we're here!" Hikaru declared. "Do you sempei's have money for the arcade?"

"Don't worry. I have money for me and Oishi just in case he forgot."

"You don't have to pay for me. I brought my own money."

"I was just being prepared in case you weren't."

"Why would I not be prepared? I have to watch your back."

"Just cause that's true in tennis doesn't mean it's true for everything else."

"I'm just saying. I can look out for myself."

"… Well you could but I can look out for you too."

"Ok. Well any way lets go in. Come one Ryo/ their gone."

The two middle school students stood there with a baby in awkward silence. In unison, they walked into arcade.

Xxx

"Here's 10 dollars. That includes my friend over here." Hikaru said to the lady at the desk while pointing at Ryoma.

"Ryoma. We're going to play in that corner over there."

Ryoma nodded and started to walk over to the corner.

"Hikaru? Who is this? A new insei?" a voice said getting closer to the two boys.

"Isumi? Since when do you go to this Go salon?"

"Just trying out new ones."

"Isumi. This is the mother of my baby doll. Ryoma."

"Oh… where is the baby?"

"With mothers friends Oishi and Kikimaru."

"Does ryoma know how to play go?"

"No. I'm going to teach him."

"Oh… well have fun. And good luck Ryoma." And Isumi left smiling towards the door. Before he could leave, he was pulled by the arm by a stranger.

"If you could young man have a match with me before you leave? I would much appreciate it."

The stranger didn't really give Isumi the option to refuse the offer. But that was ok with him. He didn't really have anything else to do.

As they sat down at an unoccupied table, Isumi started placing stones down on the go board. He saw the strange man hadn't even taken his stones.

"Aren't you gunna take your stones to see who goes first?" Isumi questioned.

The man didn't even hear the question. He was too busy staring at another game. Isumi followed the man's line of vision.

"Why are looking at Hikaru?"

"You know that boy! Who is he?"

"Um… that's Hikaru. How do you know him?"

"I know the boy he's playing with." By this time the man placed his stones on the go board. It showed that Isumi when first.

"How do you know him?" Isumi questioned.

"Oh. I'm his role model. He looks up to me. He comes to me every day practically begging for advice. He doesn't like doing anything without first coming to me. But enough about that. Tell me about the other boy."

Isumi had played a star point. "Um… that's Hikaru. He's an insei. He plays Go really well. He's probably better than me."

The man placed his stone on the diagonal star point from where Isumi placed his stone. "Don't say that! Don't ever doubt your skills."

"You don't even know if I'm good."

"Yes and I already know that you're not good if you doubt your own skills."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Because negative thinking leads to the path way of despair. Positive thinking leads you to the path way of success."

"And how do you know that?" Isumi focused on the game at hand and the conversation. The man however was focused on Hikaru's game, his own game, and the conversation and was still at an even level with Isumi.

"Negativity leads to blurry thinking. That move you made two moves ago. It was a bad move. You thought about it in a negative way. So instead of playing an attack of it and making it a good play, you thought about it negatively and focused on keeping the territory you already had. Your line of thinking got blurry."

The old man just made perfect sense. Isumi was deep in thought about how his bad move could have turned good. Suddenly the man freaked out and turned from looking at Hikaru to their game.

"But don't get me wrong, people to look up to are excellent things to have." The man said as he made an excellent move.

"But you just told me that was bad!" Isumi was confused still trying to think of a comeback to the move the man just made.

"No! You, son, were thinking about it negatively. You need people that are better then you to look up to get stronger. Or you'll just stay the same."

"So I should look up to Hikaru?"

"Yes, my boy! Strive to be at his level! Keep going up to him. He is not better than you! He just has a different learning method."

"What about the best?"

"Hahahaha I'm a great motivational speaker!/ what?"

"What about the man that's the best at Go?"

"… He's helping."

"What?"

"You."

"What?"

"He doesn't have the chance to move forward. He's always staying still… he's helping us all reach his level so that one day we can surpass him." There was a silence. The man then whispered "poor guy" but Isumi didn't hear.

The game was finished. After everything was calculated, Isumi ended up winning, but not by much.

"I will one day make it your level boy. But now we must part. Good day." And the old man ran off before Isumi could say anything.

"Hey Isumi. You still hear?" said Hikaru walking over to Isumi.

"Ah… ya." Isumi said getting up.

"Did you have a good game?"

"Sure."

"Well that's good. Well I gotta go find Kimi. Ryoma hear keeps freaking out that Kimi is sad being away from her parents so long."

"Mada mada dane." Ryoma added.

"Ok. I was leaving too. See ya later Hikaru. Oh, and other boy, you have a great man to look up to. Maybe you could be as good as him." Isumi said. He waved good bye and left.

"What?" asked Ryoma as Hikaru waved Isumi off. Ryoma started Walking. "Let's go find Karupin two."

"Who?" asked Hikaru.

"I mean Kimi." Ryoma said with a sigh.

Xxx

"Seriously Ketchum Sensei? Out of every pair of parents in the class, you choose us?"

"That's right Akira. I was supposed to let the computer choose but I just felt this made the most sense. So as of now, you two will be the parents of two beautiful twin boys."

'Yes' Akira thought. 'Make the only pair of parents that are both boys the only pair to give birth to twins.'


	5. sukodku

"Ryoma. You look a nerd." Momo said proudly as he watched Ryoma play a match of Go with Hikaru after tennis practice.

"Shut up Momo Sempei ." Ryoma said trying to concentrate.

Momo sighed and continued watching.

"… Ryoma….." Momo slowly said as he watched.

"You don't have to wait here Sempei." Ryoma stated still concentrating on the game.

"I know that! And what were those last few moves? It was like you hitting a drive B."

"You know how to play Go Sempei?"

"My mom watches it sometimes. Sometimes she talks about it at the dinner table too."

"Great. Everyone knows how to play Go don't they?"

"What's a drive B?" Hikaru asked.

"In tennis," Momo started excited to strike up a conversation. "It's a topspin drive volley with two consecutive bounce arcs, the shape of which forms the eponymous 'B'. Or basically, he hits the ball and it bounces onthe opponents side two times and the shape of the bounces forms a B. you see what Ryoma does is/"

"And how did he show it on the Go board?" Hikaru asked fearing if he let Momo go on, he would talk forever.

"Look he attacked over hear right?" Momo continued explaining it and pointing things out. Ryoma was half asleep.

Xxx

"Do you really think this will work out?" Oishi asked trying to look at his back.

"Oh totally. You have the extra duct tape right?" Kikumaru answered.

"Ya. It's on the bench over there." Oishi pointed to it. "Couldn't we just put the baby over there? why does it havta be duct taped to my back?"

"Cause it won't stop crying cause unless someone is holding it. And don't complain. Kawamura and Fuji took their free time to be with us while we watch Kimi for Hikaru and O-chibi."

"Doesn't one of the parents have to hold the baby? Cant the baby read faces or something?"

"Can we get on with the game?" Fuji interrupted in a calm polite voice.

Oishi sighed and said "yes."

The game started and the baby started laughing when Oishi bobbed it this way and that. At one point in the game when Oishi returned a ball with a lob, the baby started crying and neither Kawamura nor Fuji attempted to return the ball.

"Ryoma's gunna kill you! I'll go find it!" Kawamura said and started running of yelling "Burning!"

"What?" Oishi asked. He turned around to look at Kawamura and Kikumaru gasped.

Xxx

"Look at that! You can beat Momo!" Sai said to Ryoma happily.

"Ya Echizen. You're learning fast." Hilkaru added in.

"When do I havta fight this guy you're making me play?" Ryoma asked.

"Dude, you have a week and 3 day. You can do this."Hikaru answered.

Momo just sad there, sad he was forced to help Ryoma practice for this was excruciatingly boring. It would have been ok since he was getting some attention but Hikaru kept stopping every move to explain the move to Ryoma.

Xxx

"What? What's wrong?" Oishi asked confused.

Fuji whispered something in Kikumaru ear and that's when he realized. "Um… Nothing."

"Oh great excuse." Fuji commented.

Kikmaru grabbed Oishi's wrist and they headed inside the school. He went into the first class room, grabbed a paper and a pencil and wrote down something. He gave it to Oishi. It read 'Fuji mentioned that the baby is recording what we say. It probably doesn't know it lost a leg. We would give it away by saying out loud.'

'It lost a leg?' Oishi freaked out in note form.

Fuji took the baby off of Oishi's back and pretended to feed using his finger as a pretend bottle. The baby slowly stopped crying. Oishi looked over to see the missing leg and did his best not to make a sound.

'What do we do now?' Oishi wrote.

"I have retrieved the le/" Kawamura started when Fuji placed his hand over Kawamura's mouth before he could finish. Fuji whispered something in Kawamura's ear and he said "I got it!"

Fuji grabbed the tennis racket before he left.

Kikumaru put the note in Fuji face that read 'What did you say?'

Fuji wrote in 'I sent him to go get an onesie. The leg will snap right in …for the most part but you need an onesie so that the leg doesn't get lost.' He past the note down to Oishi and Kikumaru who were sitting at a desk.

Kikumaru was reading the note when Oishi yelled in excitement "There's an unfinished Sudoku puzzle in this desk!"

"Really Oishi?" Kikumaru asked.

Oishi wasn't listening. He had already stolen the pencil from Kikumaru and was doing the puzzle. Kikumaru was looking from the side. Fuji was looking over Oishi's shoulder.

"The two goes there." Fuji pointed out the spot.

"Oh ya. Good job." Oishi commented while writing in the answer.

"Hey. What you guys doing?" Momo asked as he walked into the room. No one answered. He walked over to the desk to see the three regulars trying to figure out a Sudoku. "…I'm surrounded by nerds!" he said as he walked out of the school building.

After a while, Kawamura walked in with the onesie. "Hey, what are you doing?" Kawamura asked as he looked over to see the Sudoku.

Kikumaru grabbed the baby and onesie and the started putting the two together. Kawamura sat down and started telling Oishi and Fuji strategies to solving Sudoku puzzles.

"How do you know how to play Sudoku so well?" Fuji pondered.

"A decent sushi chef should at least have mastered the ways of Sudoku." Kawamura answered.

Everyone in the room accepted this as an answer.

"Then I say 'I YAM impressed'". Hikaru said walking down the hall.

Sai gave a pity laugh and Ryoma said "Hey this joke actually makes sense" In a sarcastic way.

"Shut up!" Hikaru yelled.

"Hikaru! O-chibi!" Kikumaru yelled at the two. The two walked in and Kikumaru handed Ryoma the doll. "It's your turn to take Kimi right? Here you go."

"Why is she wearing an onesie?" Hikaru asked.

The three sempei's walked out and headed home. Ryoma and Hikaru did the same. Hikaru was upset he did not get an answer.

Xxx

"Dad, that's not necessary." Akira told his dad while they were in a game of Go.

"I want to see the father of my grandchildren." His father replied.

"Can we not do that?" Akira asked.

"You will go to school tomorrow and you will ask this boy to dinner." His father demanded.

"… Yes father."

"Besides, I want to see my two grandsons both at one time."

The twin Akira was taking care of tonight started crying so he had to stop his game and tend to his child.

'This is going to be a long assignment' Akira thought. "Go to sleep. Don't make me start singing." The baby cried on and on. Eventually, Akira gave in and started singing a lullaby. The baby slowly drifted into sleep. Once Akira heard the snore of a baby, he placed it in a pile of blankets and said "Good night Ney".


End file.
